Talespin: Smith has no choice but to push forward

The calls to drop the entire voter fraud investigation are coming fast and furious now that a jury found former Councilman Michael LoPorto not guilty last week.

But I don't know what else Trey Smith, the special prosecutor, can do but push forward with the other three indicted Democrats. A grand jury charged the three -- Board of Elections Commissioner Ed McDonough, Councilman Gary Galuski and former Council President Clement Campana -- and while I suppose Smith could dismiss the charges if he wanted that kind of defeats the purpose of bringing it to a grand jury in the first place and sticks a needle in the eye of the entire legal process for that matter. I know the whole "grand jury/ham sandwich" relationship but still, it is the process.

Yes, some Democrats will probably get on me about calling on the federal government to leave former Sen. Majority Leader Joseph Bruno alone but it's really apples to oranges. The Feds tried Bruno on a statute the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional and now want to bring new evidence that fits in better with law's new definition.

That's getting two bites of the apple. Last I knew stealing the votes of vulnerable people by forging their names is a charge that doesn't violate a defendant's Constitutional rights and for the other three the system has yet to play out.

Advertisement

For Smith now to dismiss the case against any of them now would be unfair to LoPorto, who had to pay for his attorney and who stated his case, successfully, to a jury of his peers. And it wouldn't be fair to the other four -- City Clerk Bill McInerney, operatives Tony Rena and Tony DeFiglio and former Councilman John Brown -- who already pled to felonies.

Sure, the case can be made that McInerney and Brown should have gotten stiffer penalties since what they did was the most egregious and I agree they should. That, however, is beside the point of whether or not to proceed with the other three cases.

Smith's bill

There is also now a stink being made about Smith's bill, which stands at $311,000 as of April and counting.

He was hired at $125 an hour, a rate approved by the judge, and that was cut in half when he hired an assistant counsel. That's not that outrageous for a trial attorney as seasoned as Smith.

But, when this thing first got going, Smith submitted an itemized bill to the Legislature for payment and by that I mean how he spent each 20 minutes of time he billed the county along with a narrative of his legal strategy. These documents, of course, made their way to the press and while the itemized bill didn't disclose any of his prosecutorial secrets he thought his narrative certainly did.

After that, Smith made a request -- which was agreed to by Judge George Pulver and the county -- to have the records sealed with only the judge seeing the itemized list and everyone else just seeing the final number. Now, the county thinks the bill is too high but can't formally complain about them without seeing the itemized records.

As I said, $125 for an attorney isn't a bad rate and for two it's twice as good. But, $311,000 after nearly three years only to get a hung jury in the McDonough/LoPorto trial and then a not guilty verdict in LoPorto Part II, is a bunch of taxpayer money.

I don't begrudge paying Smith a fair amount of money -- though I thought we had a District Attorney in this county with a pretty extensive staff to prosecute cases -- but let's see the itemized bill at least through the LoPorto trial. That one's already done and there isn't a legal strategy left to compromise and the taxpayers deserve to know where their money is going.

Committeemen

I'm told the anti-Wade faction of Democrats in Rensselaer County have some 60 percent of the weighted vote if you add up the committeemen who filed petitions. I'm not sure I believe that number or not because there will undoubtedly be primaries this September for at least some of the seats and there is a long time between now and then.

And, as I've said all along, there might be a healthy anti-Wade movement out there but just because some Democrats don't like Wade doesn't mean there is a viable alternative out there. The first name floated was Rick McCabe, the former East Greenbush supervisor who lost his own re-election bid in his hometown so I don't see him as being a strong contender.

The latest is Robert "Rabbit" Reilly, the retired postal worker who is tight with a bunch of unions and who is a member of the "delusional bunch," the faction of Democrats who backed Campana for mayor even after, thanks in large part to Wade's prodding, Campana dropped out. He could be an interesting pick but don't expect Wade to slip quietly into the sunset because he ruffled a few feathers either.

Thanks Metroland

In its annual "Best of" edition last week, Metroland named the words in this space each week the "Best Print Column."

Of course, I know it's only because The Gazette's Carl Strock and Fred LeBrun over at the Times Union are in semi-retirement but it's still pretty cool -- even if it is by default.

In the nod, Metroland said "Troy politics are endlessly entertaining," and they certainly nailed that characterization. Honestly, while the honor is appreciated, this column pretty much writes itself every week.